Most Influential Albums
John Leo
tastes are changing all the time, but it's interesting to think back
to what were the most influential albums as far as the development of
my musical taste is concerned. I'm certainly not claiming these
albums are important for anyone else, but here they are.
First some that were important at one time but that I don't listen to
much anymore.
1. Simon and Garfunkel: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
S&G were my first favorite group, and some of the only music my
parents played that I liked. I listened to them all the time
throughout grade school and junior high, and sang songs from this, my
favorite album, on my paper route (long before walkmen came out!).
Alas some S&G fanatics at my college undergraduate residence played
them constantly as well, both on record and piano, and now I can't
bear to listen to them anymore. Occasionally I do listen to the first
side of Garfunkel's "Breakaway," my favorite song of which is "Waters
of March," written by Joabim, one of the founders of bossa nova.
2. Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band: A Fifth of Beethoven
We had to "analyze" this song in a music class in junior high, and I
was ecstatic! I bought it on K-Tel, I bought the single, I bought the
album. This also got me interested in classical music, an area I
still flit in and out of from time to time, but I've never gotten too
excited about Western classical music.
3. Pink Floyd: The Wall
When I first heard "Another Brick in the Wall" I thought it was a poor
ripoff of "Tusk." But gradually I liked it more and as radio stations
played more songs (sometimes the entire first side) I decided to buy
it. This is about the only time I got interested in a group due to
the radio (usually it has been friends or pure luck). I was amazed
that an album could be more than just a collection of songs, and
although I searched for other concept albums I never found one nearly
as good. Pink Floyd became my favorite group from high school into
early college, when I gradually got tired of them for some unknown
reason.
4. Yes: The Yes Album and Fragile
I can't remember exactly which I bought first, but I loved both these
albums and almost all their others. Yes, along with a friend who was
really into art rock (and who also introduced me to Todd Rundgren) led
me to discover ELP, King Crimson, Genesis, Roxy Music, and much more.
This was the mainstay of high school and early college.
And now artists I still listen to quite a bit now.
1. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice: Jesus Christ Superstar
My parents had this, but it wasn't until we heard it in a relgion
class in junior high that I realized how much I liked it. The album
did nothing to get me interested in religion, but I loved Lloyd
Webber's music and Rice's lyrics, and have probably listened to this
album more than any other (and it's a double album!), easily over 100
times. I'd just listen to it over and over every night, and drove my
family crazy. Eventually I did get tired of it, but I still listen to
it and Lloyd Webber's other rock operas every now and then.
2. The Carpenters: The Singles 1969-1973
Well, I might have the title wrong but this album, particularly the
first side, has always been a favorite. Even though it's greatest
hits the ordering and flow of songs on the first side is as good as
any concept album, starting out with happiness and optimism ("We've
Only Just Begun") and inexorably getting more and more sad ("Rainy
Days and Mondays"). I found this especially perfect to fall asleep
to.
3. Todd Rundgren: Something/Anything?
My art rock friend was very clever: I asked him for a tape of Billy
Joel's Piano Man and he put some songs from this album on the end.
When I let the tape run on I heard one song I knew ("Hello it's Me,"
of course) and didn't like the others, but then as I listened more I
grew to like them quite a bit. I wasn't even sure what album they
were on (and my friend had moved away by then) but I guessed this one
and was right. This led to a long and enduring interest in Todd, and
S/A? is still my favorite, although I've probably listened to the
first side of "Hermit of Mink Hollow" more often. And it was this
album as well that got my girlfriend interested in Todd: When she was
in Japan I sent her first "Hello it's Me," which she liked, then "A
Dream Goes on Forever" (from "Todd") which she liked, then the whole
S/A?. After that she became even more fanatical than I, and Todd's
her absolute favorite. She watched the video "An Evening With Utopia"
over 100 times, driving her family crazy.
4. Stephen Sondheim: Company
I used to think I hated musicals, perhaps because of "The Sound of
Music" and the like which I still hate. But I went to see a friend
perform in "Tech Show '85: Estate of Mind," and was completely
enthralled. This show was completely written, directed, etc., by MIT
students and they stole from everywhere, but it was fantastic by any
standard. Now that I suddenly liked musicals, I had to try some
more, and I'd heard somewhere that Sondheim was the king of musicals.
So I went to the MIT Music Library and listened to this record, which
I liked and later loved, and Sondheim has indeed become the king of
musicals for me.
5. Burt Bacharach: What the World Needs Now: Stan Getz Plays Bacharach
and David
I also used to think I hated Bacharach, but in reality I hadn't really
heard anything by him, and what I had heard (for example "Do You Know
the Way to San Jose?") I did love but didn't know it was by him. It
was actually the soundtrack to "Casino Royale" that made me realize he
was great, but I've never found that on record. When I later admitted
to a friend I was listening to Bacharach he said he had an album I
might like, which turned out to be this one. He even gave it to me,
and I treasure it greatly since I've never seen it anywhere else (it's
difficult to find Bacharach in general these days). Getz does some of
the best versions of Bacharach I've ever heard, and "Walk on By" is
particularly amazing. Of course this album also got me interested in
Getz, which led to bossa nova and jazz in general, although I've never
been able to sustain interest in the latter.
6. Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach
"The Photographer" was showing in Boston my freshman year, and it
sounded interesting (I didn't find out about it until the last day it
was showing) so I decided to check Glass out. My friend who had the
Bacharach album also had Glassworks, which I thought was okay but
nothing special. But I kept seeing "Einstein on the Beach," a four
disc boxed set, in the stores, and I'm just a sucker for boxed sets
for some reason. It looked interesting, and eventually I bought it.
And right away I was amazed! I immediately got everything I could by
him and he became my favorite composer, which has lasted up to now.
Nothing has been quite up to this record, although "Dance I-V," done
just after it, is close. This would get my vote for greatest album
ever made. Glass also got me more interested in Indian music, but I
haven't pursued that much yet.
7. Ruben Blades: Escenes
I've loved Latin American music since grade school, when we were
learning about the different music groups and they appropriately used
a Latin American song for the percussion group (always my favorite).
But it's not easy to find and it wasn't until hearing Blades that I
starting looking more seriously. I first heard him when I saw the
American Reperatory Theater's version of Jean Genet's "The Balcony"
(directed by Glass's ex-wife). She did a terrible job with that great
play, but the music was by Blades and I was hooked from the beginning.
I haven't been able to find that particular music (apparently written
for the show) but Escenes was the first album of his I got, followed
by all the others (except "Nothing but the Truth") that have been
released here. There are supposed to be 20 or so others, but I've
only seen a couple for very high prices in NYC.
8. Brian Eno: Tuesday Afternoon
Of course I've liked Eno since high school, but none of his albums was
completely satisfying until this one. And it got me to listen to all
the old ones again and appreciate them all the more. I'm still amazed
at Eno's ability to create incredible sounds, and to make extremely
interesting music that has no rhythm or melody whatsoever. A lot of
other people have tried to make ambient music but no one has even come
close to Eno's genius.
9. San Francisco Taiko Dojo: Mitchell Park Concert, August 1987
Not really a record, although I did buy a cassette of a previous
concert they were in that day. I saw the SF Taiko Dojo almost
completely by luck in Palo Alto one very hot day: I went to the Japan
Festival, thought it was over, and when I came out of the library I
heard this incredible percussion music, which immediately drew me
toward it. I love percussion and this was the best I'd ever
heard...as well as seen. The visual aspect is very important for
Taiko, and as such it doesn't translate to record well. But
SF, San Jose, and Los Angeles all have excellent groups, and I
recommend seeing them if you can. Also music that's been influenced
by Taiko is typically fantastic, for example Yano's "Rose Garden," and
"Kaneda" from the AKIRA soundtrack. Taiko did even more for me: more
than anything else this got me interested in Japanese culture, an
obsession that continues and shows no sign of abating.
10. Urusei Yatsura 2 and Urusei Yatsura 4 soundtracks
One aspect of Japanese culture was Japanese animation, and the UY
series is my favorite. These two movie soundtracks are particularly
excellent, so much so that I bought them on CD even though I was
opposed to CDs. The next day I bought a player. Now I've got around
150 CDs, many of them Japanese.
11. Sakamoto Ryuichi: Neo Geo
A friend made me a tape of this album which I liked right away.
Sakamoto's rather uneven, but this is one of his consistently best
albums and the two Okinawan songs in particular are fantastic. He led
me to get more interested in Japanese folk songs (which are again
nearly impossible to find in the US), as well as other artists such as
Hosono Haruomi and Yano Akiko.
12. Yano Akiko: Good Evening Tokyo
I found her by chance at Tower Records in Boston; the label said she
was Sakamoto's wife so I thought I'd try her out even though she
couldn't be as good as him. This is the one I got, and I thought it
was okay at first and then liked it more and more. So I bought
others, and still others, and by "Gohan ga dekitayo" (probably her
best) I thought she was a lot better than Sakamoto, and everyone else
for that matter. Her music is impossible to describe: sort of rock,
sort of jazz, sort of traditional music, but mostly Yano. Even her
covers are so drastically altered they sound much more like a song by
her than the original artist, and Yano's own songs are extremely
diverse. Even after I thought she was great it would take me quite a
while to like a new album, but after a few listens I couldn't stop.
Over the last year I've listened to her more than everyone
else combined, so I'd have to say she's my current favorite.
She's also one of those rare artists (the only other example I can
think of is Todd) whose live versions of songs are generally much
better than the studio ones. I wish I could see her in concert!
Some other albums of note:
1. Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
Fleetwood Mac does the most pure perfect pop I've ever heard, and the
best songs are on this album.
2. Steely Dan: Aja
My favorite album by this group; not only is every song excellent, but
the production is perhaps the best I've ever heard on any album.
3. Laurie Anderson: United States I-IV
I hated her at first, but gradually got to like her quite a lot. This
is her magnum opus without a doubt.
4. David Byrne: The Catherine Wheel
I've never much liked his work with the Talking Heads save a few
isolated songs, but his work with Eno and alone has been amazing.
This album, which owes a lot to Eno, is my favorite. Ironically I
hated the record version, which contains rearranged excerpts, but saw
the performance on cable and was amazed at how much they left out.
Fortunately the CD has everything and in the right order. "Ade" is
one of the few songs I think I could listen to forever and never get
tired of. Byrne's "Music for the Knee Plays" is also wonderful (got
to see that performed five times) and his latest "Rei Momo" is also
excellent, bringing us back once again to Latin American music.
Shumi wa nandesuka, sensei. `/ / | | John Leo
--- Oreka? Benkyou o oshierukoto dayo. | --|-- l...@tds.lcs.mit.edu
Iyanaseikaku desune. \ / --| / . | / /| l...@athena.mit.edu
--- Omae no shumi wa nandayo. -| / | / / |
Benkyou o osowarukoto desu. --| \/ \/ / \| (Kazoku Geemu)
Lars P. Fischer
>3. Pink Floyd: The Wall
>that an album could be more than just a collection of songs, and
>although I searched for other concept albums I never found one nearly
>as good.
You should check out Genisis: "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".
Predating "Wall" by 6 years, this is one of the best concept albums
ever. The story is better than "Wall" and the music has lots of
impact. Complicated symphonic stuff blends with great pop tunes (The
Carpet Crawlers). And of course there's "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia"
(by The Who).
BTW: What was the first concept album? Beatles made films, but the
music was taken from different albums. The Mothers: "Uncle Meat" (1969)
comes to mind. Any earlier?
--
Lars Fischer, fis...@iesd.auc.dk | Seek error on /dev/brain (core dumped).
CS Dept., Univ. of Aalborg, DENMARK. | -- (null)
Eric Koldinger
>BTW: What was the first concept album? Beatles made films, but the
>music was taken from different albums. The Mothers: "Uncle Meat" (1969)
>comes to mind. Any earlier?
How about Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? That's often been called the
first concept album.
--
_ /| Eric Koldinger
\`o_O' University of Washington
( ) "Gag Ack Barf" Department of Computer Science
U kol...@cs.washington.edu
Michael Owen
>
>BTW: What was the first concept album? Beatles made films, but the
>music was taken from different albums. The Mothers: "Uncle Meat" (1969)
>comes to mind. Any earlier?
_Days of Future Passed_, by the Moody Blues, released in 1967. One of the
first, and one of the best. Enter the Mellotron.
______________________________________________________________________________
/> The Broken Blade Aragorn III (Michael Owen)
/< ________ ______________ Inet: ara...@blake.acs.washington.edu
C=====[*>_______/|______________> ProLine: aragorn@pro-ruby
\< Starfleet HQ: (206) 783-5589 3/12/24
_______\>_____"Ai na vedui!"__________________________________________________
Doug Hammond
>In article <FISCHER.89...@dirac.iesd.auc.dk> fis...@iesd.auc.dk (Lars P. Fischer) writes:
>>BTW: What was the first concept album? Beatles made films, but the
>>music was taken from different albums. The Mothers: "Uncle Meat" (1969)
>>comes to mind. Any earlier?
>How about Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? That's often been called the
>first concept album.
Actually I heard somewhere that the Beach Boys 'Pet Sounds' was the first
concept album. I don't know anything about it though. Anybody else know?
When was it released?
Doug
Here it IS. Again. And it's called
A full year before Sgt Pepper. I don't really think of it as a
concept album, but then I don't generally think of Sgt. Pepper as
one either.
Almost all of the songs on *Pet Sounds* dealt with growing up and
the pain and disillusion that it entails. It begins with *Wouldn't
it be Nice* which is about wishing one could be older in order to
escape adult restrictions, and ends with *Caroline No*, a plea to
the woman in the title not to grow up and leave the singer behind.
There may very well be some sort of coherent sequence, but it's
been so long since I last heard the album, I couldn't really say.
As for which was the first concept album. One could argue that it
was simply the first album with all of the songs on a single topic,
such as the Beach Boys hot-rod albums, or for that matter, who was
the first person to record an album of Christmas songs?
On the other hand, it's equally possible to argue for a much more
restrictive definition, which brings one to such things as the
Pretty Things' *SF Sorrow* which tells a fairly clearly demarcated
story (It came out at least a year before *Tommy*, and Townshend
has cited it as a major influence).
--
"How could I dance with another/When I saw him standing there"
--Tiffany
spet...@sunset.utah.edu so...@cc.utah.edu
I don't speak for the University of Utah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Richard Flamsholt S0rensen
In article <15...@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> l...@athena.mit.edu (John Leo) writes:
>3. Pink Floyd: The Wall
>... I was amazed
>that an album could be more than just a collection of songs, and
>although I searched for other concept albums I never found one nearly
>as good.
Though there's been a lot of concept albums (apart from Pink Floyd's,
"Tommy" (The Who) and "Kilroy Was Here" (Styx) comes to mind), there's
one, uh, well, actually FOUR albums, I'd highly recommend, and that is the
works of Marillion before they split up. "Script for a Jester's tear",
"Fugazi", "Misplaced Childhood" and "Cluthing at Straws" are all parts
of one, single story about Fish' (their ex-lead) break with his girl-
friend, where he delves deep into how he/it felt, what happened, what caused
him to react the way he did, the "pre- an postbreak"-situations etc. (Actually
a bit "Wall"-like, but not as strict - it's like a number of small "jigsaw
pieces" building up the whole story).
Judging the albums from this description as "probably being dull", is
just about the same as claiming "The Final Cut" to be boring, depressing
and ugly because it's "a moral lesson, teaching us that war is no good" -
because just like Pink Floyd, Marillion made (yes, _made_ - before they lost
Fish) some extremely beautiful lyrics, accompanied by truly geniuos music.
Let me put it this way. Before being introduced to Marillion, I never
brought up Pink Floyd in music discussions because I considered them
superior to everybody else - but now, I truly believe Marillion _is_ better
(argh, yacc, did I really SAY that ??!?! %-b), and that is just about the
best recommendation I can give these four albums !!
Uh, my favorite ? Well, it keeps changing all the time ... (though I
might suggest "Cluthing .." as you first-buy (er, uh, or perhaps "Script .."
(the again, why not "Fugazi" ? (No, buy "Misplaced ..." !!! (Help me EMACS,
to put my parenthesis right !)))))(Thanks)
\Richard Flamsholt
Eric Koldinger
> Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach is one of my favorites,
> too. This is the one album/cd/tape you can loan to the uninitiated that
> will make them say, "I didn't think it was possible to make music like
> this."
And some people will ask "why would anyone want to make music like this".
Minimalism is definitely an acquired taste, particularly Glass's variety.
Also, I wouldn't call _Einstein_on_the_Beach_ a concept album. It is,
after all, an opera.
Phil Miller
Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach is one of my favorites,
too. This is the one album/cd/tape you can loan to the uninitiated that
will make them say, "I didn't think it was possible to make music like
this."
Phil